Form

[Guest]

Hi,

I have appended data to my main database table and when i appended the data
the numbering was all scattered (not all the data was appended in order). I
found out what the problem is but it's too late already because my form
numbering is all messed up already. Is there a way to change the form
control so that when I click on the arrow to go to the first record it won't
give me 20323 as my auto index number and number 1 instead. Also when I open
the input data form it will have the proper autonumbering order? Thanks.

 

[George Nicholson]

You can never rely on data in a table to have any order because it simply
doesn't have one.

If you want to see data on your form in a specific order, create a query
based on that table and apply the order you want to the query. Then use the
query for your form's recordsource, not the table itself.

"Advanced" techniques discourage/prohibit using tables directly anyway, so
you'll be one step further on the path to nirvana.

HTH,


"E-mail report using Lotus Notes rather t"

 

[John Vinson]

Hi,

I have appended data to my main database table and when i appended the data
the numbering was all scattered (not all the data was appended in order). I
found out what the problem is but it's too late already because my form
numbering is all messed up already. Is there a way to change the form
control so that when I click on the arrow to go to the first record it won't
give me 20323 as my auto index number and number 1 instead. Also when I open
the input data form it will have the proper autonumbering order? Thanks.

Autonumbers ARE NOT RECORD NUMBERS.

An autonumber has one purpose, and one purpose only: to provide a
unique meaningless identifier. They will not necessarily be in the
order that the records were entered into your table (especially if you
use an Append query); they will have gaps; they can become random.

Just don't assign any meaning whatsoever to your autonumbers, and
preferably don't make them visible to users, and you'll be fine. If
you want to see records in chronological order, or alphabetical order,
or some other particular order, base your Form on a Query sorting the
table by the appropriate table field.

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[John Vinson]

John,

I understand that it's not a good idea to show tables and also use
autonumber in such fashion. However, there is a reason for that. I have
many languages for my description column that I need to convert into english.
I have chinese, russian, spanish, etc. that I would like to convert to
english. I have program some codes in my auto-populate form so if I append
200 rows of data I just go through 200 rows of data with out going through
the entire database to convert it to english. I have combo list for part
number and when I go from one set of data to the next the code looks at the
part number and automatically populate the description from a different
language into english description that is why I would like some kind of order
when I append large amount of data into my database. I currently have over
100,000 rows of data and if I have to go through that to convert just 200 row
description that is not pratical.

If you just want to be able to isolate the newly added rows, perhaps
you could use a date/time field defaulting to Now() to timestamp each
record.

You can still use autonumbers IF you a) ensure that your append query
is the only thing modifying the table when it's run, and b) sort the
records into a logical order before appending them.

John W. Vinson[MVP]